There are 90 of them. Standing disciplined on the side – equally distanced from each other and tirelessly straight – except for the five headed one, the ballerina in the middle of the intersection of the park alleys.

Public gas lighting from 25 German cities and 11 other European cities, from Dublin to Budapest, are on display in an open-air museum on one of the outskirts of Tiergarten. They are aligned quietly, somewhat taller and not as talkative as the beauty-and-the-beast-Lumière, yet more emancipated and obediently wearing their descriptive etiquette. Nevertheless, one can easily sink into conversation or inner introspection and miss out on the spectacle of light and time. The museum has been around since 1978 and is merging with the landscape.

In the same area you’ll find wonderful restaurants with tradition all around you. Schleusenkrug, the guardian of the water lock; Capt’n Schillow, the ship restaurant sailed, now on the spot, by her adventurous captain Norbert and Tiergarten Quelle, the restaurant with the many hand written beer mats, hidden under the arch of the train station.

Tip: Plan half an hour for this walk and make sure to mind the other tips you can combine it with. At the time being, the main panel with information about each light is being replaced, so better read more online about it before getting there.

When you alight from the S-bahn at the aptly named Botanischer Garten station, take a moment to notice the Jugendstil structure of the station, this might give you a clue as to when the surrounding area was built up.

A few streets removed from the station, the garden itself has an impressive history that dates to the 1600s though it was moved to its present location in the 1890s. The German botanist Adolf Engler established the 43 hectare gardens as a place of learning and as a home for botanical specimens brought back from the German colonies. The grounds are laid out geographically with over 23000 botanical specimens from the various continents arranged around an Italian garden, an arboretum and a large pond.

The real attraction here is the Tropenhaus, one of the largest green houses in the world. First opened in 1906 and renovated in 2009, the Tropenhaus is a transparent shell built without obstructing pillars which provides simulated micro-climates to a variety of plant life. Inside climbing vines reach to the 25 meter high ceiling; giant bamboo tower over bromeliads, hanging orchids and birds of paradise. A waterfall cascades over rocks into a carp pond; Epiphytes parasitically grow from the trunks of banyans. In the desert house thorny cacti remind you not to get too close.

The Botanic Garden belongs to the Free University of Berlin and is actually a learning institution. A Botanical Museum, which currently features an exhibition entitled The World of Palms, is also housed here.

Faced with a severe housing shortage in the early 1900s, progressive city planners sought the help of forward thinking architects to provide decent housing for the growing working class population. The architects wanted to contribute new approaches to city planning and these estates were built on the outskirts of the rapidly expanding city, although with close connection to transit nodes for easy commuting.

At that time running water and indoor plumbing were a rarity, so the inclusion of such “luxuries” in these flats was truly progressive. Later, upon completion of the projects, more conservative city planners complained that their inclusion was too opulent for “simple people.” Berlin’s progressive mayor Gustav Böss at the time defended them stating: “We want to bring the lower levels of society higher.”

Fans of modernist architecture found reason to celebrate in 2008 when six Berlin housing estates from 1910 – 1930 were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. These estates, representing work from such luminaries as Hans Scharoun, Walter Gropius and Bruno Taut, were chosen primarily for the above mentioned values, but also as they suffered little damage during the war and subsequent renovations.

The estates are spread out over Berlin, around what were then the city edges. Perhaps the most iconic is the Hufeisensiedlung or Horse Shoe Estate, in Neukölln, built around a central garden and pond with ranks of two and three storey flats flanking the central horse shoe.

I began an amateur jogging career a while ago. It means that over the years I have taken my training sessions less seriously. Now I’m on the serious slope. But something I never managed to do is a full training session in a stadium. I always enjoy it more to run in the wild city and eventually finish my session with two or three rounds at the stadium, this I can do.

Luckily there is a stadium, the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark, 50m from my door, so whenever I haven’t had enough I can finish my jogging by turning around with other joggers. But the image I like the most is when I’m just passing this spot: during the weekend or during a beautiful day, from the outside, the place looks like a giant round aquarium with fish trapped in it, all swimming in the same direction. Sometimes I’m one of the fish.

This sport place is freely open to the public, except when the football team has a game, which happens only once in a while. If you can get in, the Mauerpark just behind it can easily be used as a replacement jogging spot.

Fancy going on a nice short trip in the summertime to explore one of Berlin’s most beautiful lakes? Why not take the ferry if you don’t want to rent a boat. It is cheap and it takes you to two of the nicest places in the city, as it operates between Wannsee and Alt-Kladow, one of the oldest parts of Berlin. From here, you can explore this little village which is situated at the river Havel and take some short trips to wonderful lakes as well as explore the Gutspark Kladow on bike or per pedes.

In Alt-Kladow you will find the Glienicker See, the lake which for decades has had the cleanest swimming water in all of Berlin, and if you want to fish, you won’t be disappointed either. In Wannsee you can visit a lot of important monuments like the house of the Wannseekonferenz and pass by marvelous beaches as you cycle your way all into Berlin’s neighbor city Potsdam, with its impressive architecture and even more impressive nature. All in all, the ferry ride takes about twenty minutes, but will leave a much longer lasting impression on you.